Cold Calling and the Sales Professional
There are many sales professionals who are not fond of cold calling. However, this is a strategic part of their job and something that has to be done regularly, if they want to succeed in it. A lot of sales professionals fail with cold calling because they continue to put it off and find other things that they think are more important to do. There is nothing that will excuse the fact that cold calling is a necessity in sales. Sales professionals who want to succeed have to schedule their week days to include cold calling every day. Some experts may say that cold calling is like purchasing shoes. Here is a fine example. Let’s say that you are on your way down Main Street and you find yourself unable to resist window shopping. Suddenly, you see extraordinary shoes in the window and you think that you have to get this pair of shoes. You stand there staring at it for what seems like hours. You know that you cannot pass this store, but you try your best to remind yourself that your shoe closet is too full to fit another pair of shoes.
As if to help you to make up your mind, here comes the sales person at the entrance of the store right in the path of interest. The sales person asks you if you would like to try on those same pair of shoes. You might be dumbfounded by thinking how the sales person could have known that you had an interest in those pair of shoes. You hesitate for a second and then the sales person asks you directly if you want the pair of shoes to buy. This is too direct for you, but you know that you do want to buy them. What is the probability that you will pass up on that offer – it would be a slim chance? The fact that the sales person asks the question directly forced the person to make a mental decision to either walk away or walk inside the store.
Regrettably, this is the same kind of situation that many sales people set themselves up for when they are doing their cold calls. Sales people are not directly asking their prospect to purchase from them. They are, instead, asking the prospect to converse with them. Of course, you want to build a relationship with your prospect, but that can come later.
The only secret to successful cold calling is being regimented in your actions to get it done. There are no other secret formulas. People try to avoid cold calls and this is representative of not believing in what they are selling or not knowing enough about the product or services to tell someone else about it. You have to not only be confident in your abilities to sell that product or service, but in the product or services as well.
Here are some tips to creating a disciplined daily work ethic toward cold calling.
- Dedicate a specific period of time each day to call prospects and to follow up with prospects Identify the exact reason for your cold call before making the call such as how the product or service will benefit the customer.
- If you are unable to reach the prospect, leave a short message
- Always take for granted that the customer will not call back
- Be competent, persistent and confident
- Treat the person who answers the phone with respect. Don’t be demanding.
- Be professional
- Believe in the product or service and yourself.
- There is no perfect time to call.
- Improve your skills and you will find that your confidence will also improve.
Be accountable for your sales performance and you will find that it will help you to avoid any type of excuse for not being successful in sales. If you are a business owner, hiring a telemarketing company to handle the cold calling for you is what a lot of companies are doing to achieve profitability. You can also have your own in-house telemarketing staff that do the cold calling and give the sales professionals those leads to follow up with. For more information please Visit:www.insidesaleslab.com
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